The present invention relates in general to devices for tuning musical instruments and more particularly to a device for tuning stringed musical instruments.
Heretofore, tuning devices operating on the principle of sympathetic vibrations and employing tuned reeds were mounted on the stringed instrument for tuning the same. In this use of such a device, the string on the instrument was plucked and the vibration of the tuning reed was observed. Such a device has been sold by Ed Sale Guitar Co. of Avon By The Sea, N.J., as the "Vu-Pitch" visual tuner. A visual tuner for a stringed instrument employing a tuned reed and mounted on the stringed instrument was disclosed in the U.S. Pat. to Musser, No. 3,421,402 issued on Jan. 14, 1969, for Visual Tuner.
A solid state tuner has been sold by Continental Music, a division of C. G. Conn Ltd., as the "Strobotuner". The "Strobotuner", however, employed an indicator for showing the tuning condition and used a microphone to pick up the frequency of a plucked string.
In the U.S. Pat. to England, No. 3,385,153, issued on May 28, 1968, for Method Of Tuning Musical Instruments, a stroboscopic light source is spaced from the instrument to be tuned and is disposed in alignment to the string of the musical instrument to be adjusted. The patent to England disclosed the employment of specially located frets to adjust to the rate of the frame speed of a television receiver.
The U.S. Pat. to Shrady, No. 3,566,601, issued on Mar. 2, 1971, for a Crystal Oscillator Watch, discloses a piezoelectric crystal oscillator, the output of which is reduced by a dividing circuit. The output of the dividing circuit is connected to a drive circuit. A time-indicating device is operated by the drive circuit. In the U.S. Pat. to Berlincourt, No. 3,764,848, issued on Oct. 9, 1973, for Piezoelectric Starter And Ballast For Gaseous Discharge Layers, a piezoelectric oscillator starts and operates a lamp.
In the U.S. Pat. to M. Hetzel, No. 2,971,323, issued Feb. 14, 1961, for an Electronically-Controlled Timepiece, and in the U.S. Pat. to Stendel, No. 3,743,960, issued on July 3, 1973, for Circuit For Driving Frequency Standard Such As A Tuning Fork, a tuning fork is excited by electronic circuits and transistorized electronic circuits.